DAILY- HOMILY

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Saturday, July 16, 2011

17TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A

WISDOM 12:13, 16-19There is no other god besides you, one who cares for everyone, whocould ask you to justify your judgments. Your strength is the sourceof your justice and because you are the Lord of all, you can bemerciful to everyone. To those who doubt your sovereign power you showyour strength and you confound the insolence of those who ignore it.But you, the Lord of strength, judge with prudence and govern us withgreat patience, because you are able to do anything at the time youwant. In this way you have taught your people that a righteous personmust love his human fellows; you have also given your people cause forhope by prompting them to repent of their sin.

ROMANS 8:26-27Brothers and sisters, we are weak, but the Spirit comes to help us.How to ask? And what shall we ask for? We do not know, but the spiritintercedes for us without words, as if with groans. And He who seesinner secrets knows the desires of the Spirit, for he asks for theholy ones what is pleasing to God.

MATTHEW 13:24-43Jesus told them another parable, "The kingdom of heaven can becompared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone wasasleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and left. "Whenthe plants sprouted and produced grain, the weeds also appeared. Thenthe servants of the owner came to him and said: `Sir, was it not goodseed that you sowed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?' Heanswered them: `This is the work of an enemy.' They asked him: `Do youwant us to go and pull up the weeds?' He told them: `No, when you pullup the weeds, you might uproot the wheat with them. Let them just growtogether until harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the workers:Pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them; thengather the wheat into my barn." Jesus put another parable before them,"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, that a man took andsowed in his field. It is smaller than all other seeds, but once ithas fully grown, it is bigger than any garden plant; like a tree, thebirds come and rest in its branches." He told them another parable,"The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast that a woman took and buriedin three measures of flour until the whole mass of dough began torise." Jesus taught all this to the crowds by means of parables; hedid not say anything to them without using a parable. So what theProphet had said was fulfilled: I will speak in parables. I willproclaim things kept secret since the beginning of the world. Then hesent the crowds away and went into the house. And his disciples cameto him saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."Jesus answered them, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son ofMan. The field is the world; the good seed are the people of theKingdom; the weeds are those who follow the evil one. The enemy whosows them is the devil; the harvest is the end of time and the workersare the angels. "Just as the weeds are pulled up and burned in thefire, so will it be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send hisangels, and they will weed out of his kingdom all that is scandalousand all who do evil. And these will be thrown in the blazing furnace,where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the just willshine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. If you have ears,then hear."

REFLECTIONJesus uses the parable of the weeds and the wheat with which tocompare the kingdom of God. The parable shows that the kingdom of Godaccomplishes its goal no matter what the difficulties placed before itare. The presence of the weeds among the wheat did not stop the ownerof the field from still yielding a sizeable harvest at harvest time.

In the parable of the weeds and the wheat, one important truth aboutthe kingdom of God being established and is continually beingestablished here on earth is that it is composed of both saints andsinners. The kingdom of God here on earth is still in the process ofperfecting itself, and while it still is in process, we just have toaccept and face the truth of this odd mixture of opposites. All ourefforts therefore at trying to be holy in response to the call toholiness by God are to be made within a world which counts itsmembership from among sinners and saints. And yet, we live in hopethat it is goodness that will triumph, for without this hope we willonly be filled with bitterness and despair.

When the workers of the field discovered the growth of the weeds, theyasked their lord if he wanted them to pull out the weeds. But hisanswer was to leave them alone until harvest time, lest they also pullout the wheat. What does the judgment of the master tell us? It tellsus to be patient, to be continually open and yet vigilant at the realsituation of imperfection made by the presence of sin and evil. Itdoes not mean that we just allow evil to flourish unchallenged, but toactively confront evil and its threats. Evil must be contained even ifperhaps imperfectly, in order for goodness to have space to grow. Evilmust be contained, or else the wheat will die and cannot reach harvesttime and be burned with the weeds for they, too, have become useless.

In this situation where both weeds and wheat grow, i.e. good and evilgrow, it is not difficult to get discouraged when not a few times wesee that evil seems to get the upper hand. And we get tempted to gothe way of sinners.

However, we strive to hold on to our faith in God. At the time ofharvesting, but even before that, God already keeps an eye on those tobe harvested and helps them to grow. God does not gather into hisbarns the works of evil men. And so we hold on to doing what is rightand good filled with hope that it is the fruit of the good that willsurely last and that will be gathered at harvest time. Truly, a timefor harvesting awaits those who see beyond the weeds in the field ofwheat, those who see beyond the weakness and wickedness of this world.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayersand for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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+================================================+| The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the| priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish| http://www.marythequeen.org| Distributed free and for personal use only.+================================================+

MEMORIAL, OUR LADY OF CARMEL

JULY 16, 2011 MEMORIAL, OUR LADY OF CARMEL SATURDAY 15TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR I

Ex 12:37-42 / Ps 136:1, 23-24, 10-12, 13-15 / Mt 12:14-21

EXODUS 12:37-42 The Israelites left Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousandof them on the march, counting the men only, and not the children. Agreat number of other people of all descriptions went with them, aswell as sheep and cattle in droves. With the dough they had broughtwith them from Egypt, they made cakes of unleavened bread. It had notrisen, for when they were driven from Egypt they could not delay andhad not even provided themselves with food. The Israelites had been inEgypt for four hundred and thirty years. It was at the end of thesefour hundred and thirty years to the very day that the armies ofYahweh left Egypt. This is the watch for Yahweh who brought Israel outof Egypt. This night is for Yahweh, and all the Israelites are also tokeep vigil on this night, year after year, for all time.

MATTHEW 12:14-21 The Pharisees went out and made plans to get rid of Jesus. As he wasaware of the plot, he went away from that place. Many people followedhim and he cured all who were sick. Then he gave them strict ordersnot to make him known. In this way Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled:"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, and with whomI am pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him and he will announce myjudgment to the nations. He will not argue or shout, nor will hisvoice be heard in the streets. The bruised reed he will not crush, norsnuff out the smoldering wick. He will persist until justice is madevictorious and in him all the nations will put their hope."

REFLECTION Today's reflection has two key words: Sabbath and Mt. Carmel. TheGospel reading takes up the issue of which is more important: honoringthe Sabbath or the Lord of the Sabbath. The lesson always is that ifby strictly and literally observing the Sabbath one convenientlyavoids doing what would have been more pleasing to the Lord, then theSabbath loses its purpose and meaning: that it is a rest day to bespent solely in giving glory the Lord. A misplaced focus on theSabbath might as well be a shameless worshiping of a false god.

This brings us to the second key word, Mt. Carmel. Today we celebratethe memorial of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, a very important date not justfor all Carmelites. Carmel was the biblical place where the prophetElijah triumphed over the pagan King Ahab and his idol god Baal. TheBook of Kings narrates that King Ahab has started to at tract the Jewsby means of colorful rituals. A number of prophets denounced suchpaganism and the king's wife Jezebel had them all killed. Only Elijahescaped. In the final showdown, a prophet of Baal and the Lord'sprophet Elijah each built a stone altar topped with firewood on whichwas a sacrificial bull. Whose god it is who can send fire upon thealtar will be deemed the one true god. The prophets of Baal prayed,danced, and sang but nothing happened. Before Elijah prayed, he evenpoured water on the altar. When he called upon the Lord, a fire boltquickly descended and consumed not only the bull but even the stonealtar.

Let us go through this day rekindled and confidently firm in thebelief that our Lord is indeed above the Sabbath and above Baal. Andmay we all be worthy and practicing believers.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayersand for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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These reflections are distributed free and are for personal use only.Feel free to send the Daily Prayer reflections to your friends,colleagues and relatives; however, if you do, please include thefollowing:

+================================================+ | The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the | priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish | http://www.marythequeen.org | Distributed free and for personal use only.+================================================+